This has tripped up the delivery of these two releases, which our faithful and always recommended pressing plant has been cranking away, reporting they've been having to run their vinyl press 7 days a week, 24 hours a day to meet demand.. They've also be kind to put up with our stress and general cranky and ogrsh behavior as we sweat getting this much stuff out! Thank You.

Prank's sales have always been vinyl heavy, sometimes half or more of the release, and we never have really considered the record "done" until it appears on LP, for all these reason these articles mention, artwork, Mastering,etc.

Anyway, Still not done...and We think these should be ready finally in the next Week to ten days, So stay tuned, Check back here for more updates.

When these Records were originally made in the 1990's, there was a huge schism as to how DIY records would be priced and distributed. In light of where Record making and selling has gone since then and is now, it seems almost quaintly unfathomable that pricing the records wholesale over $4 or $5 wholesale would be cause for the records not to be distributed as "too expensive", or the schism between the more "mainstream" punk distributors of the time like MORDAM and the small DIY distros like TRIBAL WAR, PROFANE EXISTENCE and EBULLITION, who brought the European style "show distro" to prominence in the U.S., was a huge one.

Hardcore had largely become cut out bin material by the early 1990's and more above ground distributors had little interest in it, so these DIY distros did do an enormous service in keeping the flame going...Distribution, Exclusive distribution and wholesale prices were serious issues at the time , as the point was to foster the community and it's ideas further through distribution at shows, and for kids to be able to buy and re-sell the records, the wholesale had to be dirt cheap. It was somewhat, but not ridiculously , cheaper than now to make records in the 1990's, but it was possible before the scene became larger and divided into even tinier and tinier subsects to sell amount of records in the thousands and thousands of a DIY release. Now releases are almost vanity micro-pressings of 500 or 1,000 with the exception of a few bands, and pricing for these basically collectors items has become less of an issue.

If nothing else based on record sales and touring, One of the best years for hardcore since the 1980's was in 1997, the apex of interest in divergent forms of Hardcore -from AUS ROTTEN to SPAZZ to LOS CRUDOS to HIS HERO IS GONE, all these were major bands and people that helped define that and this decade and all were young enough to ( and gas was cheap enough for them to) exhaustively tour both the US, Europe and beyond, a long with a heap of other great bands happening at the same time-from MAN IS THE BASTARD to DROPDEAD to DEVOID OF FAITH to the continuation of the start of Japanese hardcore tours ( ASSFORT and GAUZE toured the US that year) which set the stage for the influence Japanese hardcore would have in DIY in the next decade. For some places on the east coast and Mid West, this was just the start of when these scenes would eventually shake off and distance themselves from tough Guy moshcore or the SD (San Diego) or DC-influenced emo hardcore and indie music.

From this environment these HIS HERO IS GONE records were born, and so they have always -from the bands request at the time-had a low wholesale price of under $5 to distributors. While throughout the 90's and early 00's Prank was a Mordam Records Exclusive, and Mordam sold Thousands and thousands of copies of these records, putting DIY hardcore back into places it hadn't been since the 80's and fostering the communtiy in a different way. You'll now find the records, honoring the same low wholesale at EBULLITION, NO IDEA, Revolver USA, ETC.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

It's My Birthday, Prank's 13th Anniversary and still close enough for a West Coast record release show for "The Graveyard of Utopia" So We're flying WORLD BURNS TO DEATH in for what will probably be their only West Coast appearance this year. AUGUST 23rd at Annie's Social Club in SF. 21+... sorry kids, their drummer, because of work and family committments and the way flights out of Austin work can only come to SF for literally 14 hours. Plus we've got a couple other bands we're working on bringing in, so need the higher door take of a bar to not totally eat it on plane flights. Prank is trying to experiment with doing more of these kinds of shows in the Bay, so hopefully We can bring in more bands on Special events and balance them with Shows at Gilman and other All ages venues.

UPdate: IRON LUNG is now on the bill too. Only Bay Area show this summer? DESOLATION and one more will open.

Also-thrillhouse Records is having a a festival that entire weekend, with shows at thrillhouse, The parkside and the Knockout, so it's a great weekend to come to the bay!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

The Special Edition of WORLD BURNS TO DEATH " The Graveyard Of Utopia" is Sold out in 24 hours! Thanks folks!!The regular version of the third and newest World Burns To Death LP, co-released with HG FACT, will be out soon. Since they have always been home to all things WB2D, we're had HARDCORE HOLOCAUST distribution handle the limited version / The same as the Version recently on Sale at Chaos In Tejas.You can go directly to HCH New arrivals page Here and pick up some other cool stuff including limited Japanese releases HG FACT and UNDER THE SURFACE records dropped off at the tejas.

We will have the regular version which is deluxe in and of itself, with a heavy weight sleeve and large booklet) on sale shortly, We've apparently backed up the pressing plant with the impending onslaught on Prank Releases!!

Below is the info on the LP itself. We also still have the CD version available.

8 Track Raging Attack of Absolute Hardcore... with searing guitars, a thundering and rapid fire drum pound, and harsh vocals spitting forth a brutal vision. This third LP from Austin, Texas's WORLD BURNS TO DEATH further evolves and refines their trademark sound as dark, ramcharging ultra-punk comes full circle... Here is the speed and severity of their debut 45's AND the refinement, heaviness and precision of their two previous landmark albums on Hardcore Holocaust Records.

"The Graveyard Of Utopia", was tracked initially in Tokyo, Japan after the WB2D 2007 Japanese tour at the legendary OUR HOUSE studios (Where a majority of the classic Tokyo hardcore records have been recorded since the 1980's) with final recording tweaks and mixing done at THE BUBBLE in Austin ( Who have recorded everything from BUILT TO SPILL and THE MEAT PUPPETS, to SIGNAL LOST's 'Prosthetic Screams" ). The result is the band's strongest offering to date.

Studio time in Tokyo allowed for guest appearances from luminaries from the Japanese Punk scene- with backing vocals on from Ishiya FORWARD and Iizawa BASTARD/JUDGEMENT as well as guest guitar solos from Souichi FORWARD and Keiro AKUTARE and Chelsea DEATHSIDE/PAINTBOX. Studio Time in Austin allowed for backing vocals from Ashley SIGNAL LOST.While WB2D's lyrics have always been caged in Historical reference, the theme of this LP is rooted in the Failures, Disasters and Massacres of the Soviet State Apparatus.

This is a split release between Prank and Japanese label HG FACT, with them handling the CD version and Prank releasing the vinyl. WORLD BURNS TO DEATH are currently preparing for their first tour of Europe, hitting four major punk festivals across Continental Europe and Scanidinavia in a whirlwind two weeks. Making Punk Happen Indeed!